Christmas Bridge

This Christmas one evening after an extensive cheese-board we had the pleasure of playing some informal bridge. Anna and I got dealt all the good cards, and perhaps got a bit carried away on this last deal.

I opened the North hand 1♠ - a poor decision. The hand is weak and lacks a good rebid. When Anna responded 2♥ I had to bid 2♠. Unwilling to commit to Spades, Anna tried 3♣, in theory natural but here bid on just a fragment. I could have bid 3NT now, but depsite my weak hand, didn't want to miss out on a Club slam so tried 4♣. Anna ended our unconvincing auction with a jump to 6NT. West led a Diamond.

All Vul W deal ♠ K 9 8 x x ♥ J ♦ K x x ♣ A T x x ♠ J x ♥ x x ♦ Q T x x x x ♣ x x x 11 3 6 20 ♠ A T x x ♥ T 9 x x x ♦ J ♣ J x x ♠ Q x ♥ A K Q x x ♦ A x x ♣ K Q x
Katie Danny Andy Anna W N E S 1♠ - 2♥ - 2♠ - 3♣ - 4♣ - 6NT - - -

6NT is not a good contract. You have 1 Spade trick available, 4 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 3 Clubs. Ten tricks. To make it you need two extra, which could come from Hearts splitting 4-3 (good odds) and Clubs 3-3 or a winning finesse (not so good). My singleton Jack of Hearts is a vital card, and as is often the case in 6NT, every high-card point is essential. An extra high card point would make it a good slam - for example if I had the Jack of Spades.

Anna took the sensible line of playing on Hearts, and the game was soon up when they split 5-2. She then tried the Clubs, and even though East had long Hearts (therefore expected to have shorter Clubs) she sensed that West did not have the Jack of Clubs so correctly played for the drop. But that just took her up to 11 tricks, and 6NT-1.

Looking at all four hands, you can make the contract I think. East has the Hearts covered with five of them, and he is also protecting the Spades. So if you begin by cashing your two Diamonds and four Clubs East has to find two additional discards. He can't afford to throw any Hearts, so must throw two Spades, and then you can set up the Spades. This line is crazy in real life, as it involves removing your own Ace-King of Diamonds before knocking out the Spade Ace, so only works when the Diamond suit is split something like this.

I thought at the time Anna could have made it (without such double-dummy play), but I think I'd had too much cheese.

Rouken Glen vs Rowan

The first and last boards let me down tonight. On the first, I made a difficult-to-read and far-from-clear takeout double with a partner who was still dealing with trying to put a four-year-old to bed. It didn't end well:

I made a solid 1♣ opener, and Anna responded a natural 3♣. West bid 3♠, to play. With my solid Clubs and short Spades I thought I was certainly worth bidding on, but didn't want to miss out on a possible easy 3NT. The solution - double! I thought that with a balanced hand with a Spade stopper Anna should bid 3NT. She thought with a balanced hand with a Spade stopper she should defend, probably thinking I had a strong NT. If I did have a decent strong NT type hand, with a bit more defence, then we might have beaten 3♠.

Anyway I regretted my bid when Anna passed. Declarer didn't even bother finessing Spades and still collected an easy 3♠x= for -530.

On the other tables South played 3NT-1 with no opposition bidding on a Spade lead, North played 4♣-2, and North played 3NTx= when allowed to make a Spade and a Diamond.

This board was a bidding challenge that we did not excel on:

I think my opening bid of 1♠ is clear, and Anna's 2♥ response (for us shows 10+ only). After that I decided that rather than rebidding 2♠ which could be passed, or 3♠ which I wasn't good enough for, I'd bid 3♦. This is still game forcing so I might as well have bid 3♠. Anna wasn't sure my 3♦ bid was game forcing and jumped to 4♥. I probably should have corrected this to 4♠ but considered that since she skipped fourth-suit-forcing Anna knew the final contract, so I passed.

4♥ is not a good contract. You have six trump tricks, plus two Aces. For two more you need some comnbination of the Spade finesse, a high Club, and a Club ruff. West led the ♠2, which is surely a singleton. That means your only hope is to win and play a Club up, hoping the defence don't win and switch to trumps. It didn't work out for Anna and we scored 4♥-2. With the bad Heart split I think 4♥ is hopeless, and luckily for us 4♠ looks doomed too. Well done if you get to 3NT and make it.

On the other tables they played 4♥-1, 4♠-2 and 5♠-1.

In the 24 boards I had only four opening hands. I made a few easy 1NT contracts where I felt I had good control and knew what everybody had, so backed myself to make this 4♠ on the final deal:

With a Heart and two Spade losers I need to play the minors for no losers. This could be playing Diamonds if the Queen is onside and they are 3-3 (as is the case here), or the club finesse (fails here), or playing off the Ace-King of Clubs (works too). You can guess that I took the one losing option.

I tried so hard to work out East's hand, and by the time I was playing the Club suit felt convinced he must have the ♣Q, as he'd only shown the Ace of Hearts so far. What I'd forgotten is that he had five Hearts, making his 2♥ raise quite reasonable (maybe even an underbid). I should have instead focused on West's hand - he overcalled 1♥ with a five card suit to the Jack (as far as I knew), so I should have played him for the remaining ten points. I didn't, and went one off in a making contract.

The other tables played 4♠-1, 3♠= and 3♠+1.

But the rest of the team came through, Jill and Barbara bid a couple of slams, and we won the match comfortably.

Christmas Tournament

There were 11 pupils for the school Christmas party. We played matchpoint scoring with boards that had already been played at the Buchanan, meaning I could instantly generate a score even for boards that were only played once.

For the three younger pupils, who had no experience of bidding (or even playing in suit contracts), I bypassed the auction and fixed the contracts. When this led to the most Junior pair leading the field there were accusations this method was unfair, but actually the scores all evened out and I would suggest the final result was somewhat random.

Not to take anything away from the winning pair of Claire and Parveen, with 56%, assisted by Sarah when Parveen had to leave early. Sarah also had the distinction of being in the lowest ranked pair, on 43%, partnered with me.

The best play award goes to Niamh, for this

l North was put in a contract of 1NT, and received a Spade lead. West took his ♠AK, ♦A then tried the Jack of Hearts. Declarer won in hand, then crossed to dummy and took the marked Heart finesse, collecting five Heart tricks in total and finishing on 1NT+2.

While this might not have been the hardest play to find, it was a good achievement given the general noise in the room, Michael Buble Christmas songs and sweets around the place.

Next year we'll all be bidding.

Scottish Cup Plate Round 2

After our sensational win against Fiona Greenwood's team we were up against it to repeat that feat against Harry Smith's team. Tonight England's men's football team were also in action and I'd been listening to how they've been preparing for their 7 pm kickoff: long lie-in, relaxing as much as possible, big nap in the afternoon. Not quite the same preparation for Anna and I: she didn't get in from work until 655 pm and I was still looking after both kids until about 8 pm.

On the first few boards were were rather sluggish, and underbid. However, looking at the hands afterwards it wasn't clear we'd done badly, as the games we'd missed our way were marginal at best, and maybe our +100s were good scores. Sadly, everything was indeed bid and made at the other table, and we went into the interval down by 61-8. The good news was that being behind by so much took the pressure off, and when Michael apologised for not making his part-score on Board 11 no one really minded.

The match was on RealBridge, which is not our preferred format. Three reasons; firstly it's harder to multitask and read a bedtime story when you're dummy. Secondly it's harder to look back at the hands and export them. Thirdly, we are not so familiar with it. Anna in particular somehow didn't know there was a button to review the auction, which cost us dear when she played a handsome 6♥ contract. She ducked the Spade lead and was rather surprised to see one returned and ruffed, the slam failing on a 7-1 Spade break. What she'd forgotten is that an opponent had opened 3♠.

In the second half I took slightly riskier actions, and they generally paid off. With two game swings each we won that section 30-24. Our big results were Kevin and Michael making a solid 6NT, and Anna collecting 4♠= that was two down on the other table.

This could have been a big swing too, on the very last board.

West opened 1♣, East replied 1♠ and West jumped to 3NT. One of the advantages of RealBridge is that it's easier to ask your opponents about the meaning of bids, and when I enquired West belatedly told me that the 3NT was based on a long minor. Based on very little, I decided to double 3NT. Among experts I believe this sort of double of 3NT ask for partner to lead dummy's suit, here Spades, and indeed if Anna had something like ♠Ax and dummy ♠xxxx then the Spade lead would have beaten 3NT. However, neither Anna or I are experts and it's not clear that Anna would have led a Spade. Furthermore, as you can see, if she does then declarer gets 12 tricks and even on hte best Diamond lead declarer gets 11, so doubling 3NT looks costly.

But much to my relief West removed to 4♣. East quickly bid 4♥, passed out. It would have been a better story if after duping them out of 3NT we took them down in 4♥, but unfortunately didn't. We needed to play Spades to tap dummy, but didn't quite get it right. Anna led a top Diamond, then switched to a Club (good plan, in case declarer has a singleton Club and wants to draw trumps then play Clubs). Declarer took as many Clubs as possible, with me finally ruffing. I needed to switch to a top Spade, but didn't, and declarer was able to draw trumps and enjoy the Clubs so 4♥ made. Team-mates were safely in 5♣+1 for a flat board.

Our cup-run is over. Shorter matches from now on.

Scottish Cup Plate Round 1

Our inexperienced team scored a surprise win against Fiona Greenwood's quartet in the first round of the plate. I would say we were somewhat fortunate, with a few misplayed hands still making, a successful gambling 3NT, and our team-mate miscounting his points and jumping to an unbeatable 3NT.

The first half, against Fiona and Julia Palmer was very enjoyable, and we emerged 3 IMPs up. It felt like the second half was much harder work. It may have been as we were playing a pair with transfers over 1♣, because it was approaching 11 pm, or just because we weren't getting any good hands. When I picked up this one I wanted to make the most of it:

Of course I opened 1♥ and had no hesitation in rebidding 3♥ (if Anna had responded e.g. 1NT I might have tried 3NT). When dummy came down I counted 10 tricks, carefully counted them again, then concluded that this one was in the bag, which was good news as we'd been playing for nearly four hours. The defence (Andrew Symonds and Iain Taylor) was good - they took their three Diamonds then West played the fourth Diamond. When your only likely source of tricks is trumps then giving a ruff and discard is often correct. Here I had no choice but to ruff high and hope that trumps were 3-2. My solid contract wasn't looking quite so secure now.

As it turns out trumps were 5-0, and I had to go two down. Ruffing high had cost an extra undertrick, but is always the right thing to do as often it lets you make the contract.

On the other table our defenders began with three Diamonds, but didn't continue them so just got four tricks and 4♥-1. So not only did I not make the contract, I lost IMPs on the board.

Enough other things went our way, and we must have done a few things right as we won the secod half by 29 IMPs, and won the match by 32 IMPs. Bring on Team Harry Smith next Tuesday.

SBU Bronze League Division 2 - vs Pentland Panthers

Phil and I did a bit better tonight. My main regret was when I had a trump suit of

♠AQxxx 

 ♠T9xx.

I could afford one loser. The right play as I well know, and advised Anna of the other day, is to play the Ace. This gains when there is a singleton honour offside, and doesn't cost anything. The only time you might lose out is if there is ♠KJx(x) onside, when you could have made an overtrick. But seeing as I was in a contract that started with four top losers, I would have been very happy just to make it.

Here is the full deal.

A weird auction as I didn't know what Phil's 3♣ bid meant. I guessed it was a splinter (as I had good Clubs myself), but we ended in 4♠ which isn't a bad spot.

When it came to playing the trumps I led the ♠T, which looked fine when I picked up the Jack, but later a suprise ruff in Clubs cost me. Laying down the ♠A would have have let me clear trumps with just one loser.

4♠-1 was a small gain against 4♠-2 but it could have been more.

Here is a hand that Phil played really nicely. We have once again overbid, and 5♠ looks doomed with three top losers.

The only hope is to find the Ace of Hearts onside, and for the defence to not take their tricks. Phil gave himself the best chance by playing Hearts immediately, before drawing trumps. Then when the Ace won, West crossed over to East's Ace of Diamonds. Because Phil had left trumps out, East didn't know if he should be giving his partner a Club ruff, or if he should try and cash a Diamonds. There are clues out there, but the defence got it wrong and we survived in 5♠

The other table played 4♠+1 on the ♥A lead so the board was flat.

On the other table Harry and Michael had a good game and we won by 32 IMPs.

SBU Bronze League Division 2

I found myself involved with the Junior team again last Wednesday, with old friend Phil Moon. Playing with an irregular partner you tend to be a bit more straight-forward with your bidding, but I could maybe have done a bit more here:

I have the nice 5-5 hand and opened 1♥ (higher of two five-card suits). When it came back round to me I was worth 3♦. I think we are game forced now, after Phil has shown 10+ and I've shown a good opener. So Phil's 3♥ should be stronger than 4♥, and he does indeed have a good hand. I should bid 3♠ now, a fairly safe cuebid (Hearts is obviously trumps, and Spades obviously not natural). Showing a Spade control is exactly what Phil needs to here (as he fears two Spades losers), and maybe then we'd get to 6♥.

Assuming you get the expected Spade lead, making 12 tricks comes down to guessing Diamonds. On my table I got it wrong, playing Diamonds from the top, for 4♥+1. Though I like to think if I was playing the slam I'd have investigated a bit more before committing, and on playing a Club to the Ace would see East split (showing King-Queen) after which I could play West for those missing Diamond points.

On the other table, after a shorter auction (1♥-3♥-4♥) they got a Diamond lead so made 12 tricks. So we actually lost 1 IMP. Or rather, because I'd accidentally set up this Teams Match as matchpoint scoring, we scored 0% (I later went through each board fixing it, and we won 52-42).

Glasgow League: Rowan vs Metropole

Anna and I had a good set here, mostly in defence. I bid pretty boldly and stole a few contracts. This was our highlight:

I have a great hand as East and was poised to make a Michael's bid but instead opened 1♥. Surprisingly Anna replied 1♠ and I splintered in Clubs. My aim was now to get Anna to bid Blackwood so I could show my Club void. This all worked out well, albeit with some big pauses in the auction while we both tried to remember the responses. After my 5NT Anna knew I had a void, obviously in Clubs, so she knew her Ace there was worthless and signed off in 6♠.

This made comfortably, as it did on every other table. I've called it our highlight though as we were the only pair to investigate 7♠, and would have been able to bid it if it was there.

Overall Team Rowan lost the match 9-7.

Failing in 7NT

I have two teams in the SBU Bronze League this year - my 'veterans' who have now left school and my 'Juniors' who have just joined the bottom division. Last Wednesday I ended up playing for the veterans while also directing the Juniors - some of whom left at half-time thinking the match was over. I was madly messaging everyone to try and get that match back on track, while in the match I was playing I was faced with this hand:

Aidan had the big East hand and opened 2♣. I think most would say the hand is not good enough, as you have four losers and not enough tricks, but I have seen Aidan open a light 2♣ before so can't blame him for what followed. His counterpart, the East for our opponents Amisfield also chose to open 2♣.

With my strong West hand I was tempted to bid an immediate 7NT, but started with 2♦. Partner predictably bid Hearts, then Hearts again, and after my Blackwood bid showed the expected three keycards. If we had a method of asking for Kings I'd have done it; instead I just bid 7NT.

If partner has the expected solid Hearts, Ace of Spades, and at least one more King (Spades or Diamonds please) then we should be big favourites. As it is, it looks like it depends on a finesse.

Although you wouldn't generally like to be in a grand slam on a finesse, it's actually not too bad if you assume the other team are in 6NT. If the finesse works we gain about a game swing, if it fails we lose about a game swing. Of course the flaw in my reasoning is that if East opens 1♥ (as I would have) it might actually be quite hard to get to slam (makes the 2♣ opener look a bit better), and I'd feel foolish playing 7NT-1 against 4♥ on the other table.

In 7NT North led a Heart, a sensible safe lead. There are 11 top tricks. If the Diamonds come home you have plenty of tricks. Is there also a chance of a squeeze? Not really, as your only threats are the Spades and Diamonds in your hand. If North has the missing Kings (as here) he gets to choose what to discard after you, and if South has them that means the Diamond finesse was working anyway.

I ran a few Hearts then took the losing Diamond finesse. As I'd also cashed the ♠A in preparation for an end-position that didn't happen that meant off two. On this layout I can't do any better and I think I was technically right in assuming that I needed the Diamond finesse. I chose to take it early so I could then decide what to do if it won but the Diamond King didn't drop under the Ace, (if I play all my winning Hearts I have to throw away too many cards from dummy and can't then squeeze South).

However, I now wonder if I should have ran all of the Hearts, which would put a lot of pressure on North. He was already slowing down with his discards. I know that my Clubs aren't a threat but he doesn't, and I wonder if he would have been forced to e.g. bare the Diamond King. Would I have then dropped it with my Ace, or finessed anyway? Who knows - it would have been an interesting test.

As it was that was 14 IMPs out against 6NT= on the other table.

After that I was slightly on the tilt, but in a good way, and made just enough IMPs back on the last two boards. We won the match 53-35 overall.

This earlier deal was a great result for Aidan and I:

I made a rather reckless 3♥ overcall (having length in right-hand opponent's suit is a good thing I thought) and over their natural 3NT Aidan found a bold 4♥, doubled. There is at least one loser in each suit, plus I need to ruff some Spades but also draw trumps, and guess Diamonds right.

On a Spade lead from North I played low and South played the Ace, then tried to cash some Clubs. I ruffed in and now have to be careful. If I try and draw trumps then the defence could duck the King. Then what do I do? If I play another round of trumps they could win and play trumps again, leaving me without a Spade ruff. If I play Spades myself I could get stuck in dummy and forced to lead away from the Diamonds. I attacked the problem head-on and led a Diamond to the Jack and Ace. With Diamonds 3-2 I'm home now (as it happens with trumps 2-2 I'm always safe).

4♥x-1 for -200 was a good score against game making the other way. Our opponents said they were thinking about bidding 4NT. This has exactly nine top tricks, but who knows what might have happened on the run of the Clubs. On the other table North chose to double the 3♥ overcall, leading to 5♣=, so we gained 7 IMPs on this one.

A rare triumph

My new team of youngsters have been having a tough time in Division 5 of the SBU Bronze League, losing all their matches rather heavily. On more or less every game hand they lose about 10 IMPs. However, this was a rare triumph that made me very proud. 

The more experienced neevie14 was substituting in and found herself declarer in 3NT on the hand below (we have more trouble with the play than the bidding). 
  

East led a Heart and declarer had a think. It looks obvious to develop the Clubs, coming to 2 Spades, 5 Clubs and 2 Hearts. And you do have just enough time to develop the Clubs before your Heart stoppers are gone. But what if the defence duck the Clubs? If on the opening lead you make the instinctive second hand low play of a low Heart from dummy, winning the Ace in hand, you could be forever stranded from those Clubs. What did neevie do?

I'm delighted to say she rose with the ♥K, knocked out the ♣A, and collected nine tricks. Bravo - a great hand for advance planning.

On the other table 3NT was played by South, and the defence was not as challenging resulting in 3NT+2 and a loss of 2 IMPs. But we'll take that.

SBU Bronze League Week 3

This was the debut of my S2 players in the SBU Bronze League. They did well, with plenty of good stuff. The lunch-time before we'd done a lesson on ruffing in dummy, and I was pleased to say they took it on board and did lots of ruffing in the match. In fact, maybe too much ruffing, as there were a couple of times they could have drawn trumps but didn't. They played the first 8 boards, then in the second half myself and the more experienced S3 took over. We did slightly worse, but did well on this deal:

I opened 1♥ and Isla correctly replied 2NT showing 10-12 balanced. I raised to 3NT, and West led the King of Diamonds.

At this point I encourage the pupils to count sure tricks. You have 2 Spades (Ace and King), 0 Hearts, 1 Diamond (the Ace you just won), 3 Clubs. That only makes six.

Where are the other three coming from? You can get two more from Diamonds (the Ace-King are already gone, knock out the Queen and you have the next two). You can get one more from Hearts. What can go wrong? In theory, nothing. You have no weak suits so have plenty of time to establish your three extra tricks.

Our young declarer got me worried by cashing a couple of Spades and a couple of Clubs. Those are not the suits to build extra tricks. However, right at the last minute, she switched to Hearts then finally played Diamonds to secure nine tricks. Well played!

This was a great relief. We bid and made a game. This was a rare flat board but we lost the match overall.

SBU Bronze League 12 - Week 1

This season I've bitten off more than I can chew and am looking after two teams in the SBU Bronze League. Last night they were both in action. My team of players who left school last year can look after themselves and recorded a fine win in Division 2. I was playing in the new team of younger Juniors who have entered the league in the lowest Division 5. Based on last night, where we played fairly well but lost 18-2, I think we are going to struggle.

I partnered the most inexperienced player, who goes by the username iscucumber. She ended up being declarer 7 out of 16 boards, including three in a row. She lost the plot on the last one (2♥-3, making on the other table), but did very well apart from that.

This board was my favourite:

We play a very simple system, which worked well for us here. After partner opened 1NT I could reply 2♣, natural.

East led a Heart. I immediately set about trumps, taking five tricks there plus four Hearts for 2♣+1. This looked like a great result, until I realised that actually with Hearts and Clubs splitting we could make 4♥. On the other table our team-mates successfully got to 2♠ by West, but some strange things happened and it went one off, for a flat board.

Rowan vs Hamilton

In our first league match of the season it became apparent that the children now go to bed a little later, and the 7pm start time was pushing it. We had to have a break after four boards so Alex could get a bedtime story. Then, as I was in the middle of a tricky 6♦ contract, I heard a little voice say from downstairs "Have you even taken any tricks yet?". It was Zoe, watching Anna's screen.

As it happens, I took all 13 tricks:

In the auction Anna's 1NT rebid showed 15-17, and my 2♣ was Checkback Stayman, asking for extra length in the majors. I was hoping for a Heart fit, but when Anna bid a negative 2♦ I knew that with short majors she was likely to have at least something in Diamonds, so felt fairly confident bidding the slam. In fact we could easily have hand a grand slam on if she has the perfect cards.

In 6♦ I got a Heart lead. Prospects are good. I drew trumps in two rounds and now the contract is secure. I think the best line for an overtrick is to test if the Club Queen drops, then if not try the Spade finesse. That led to 6♦+1.

On the other table they stopped in 5♦+2, after some good pre-emmpting in Spades from our team-mates Colin and Sheena Hamilton.

In the other match Jill and Barbara had no problem getting to 6♦+1, and on the fourth table the contract was the rather shakier 6♥=.

Now here is a pair of hands the indicate quite a gulf in the bidding style of my partner and I:

I have responded to Anna's takeout double with a free bid of 2♥, despite only having four Hearts and a bad hand. Maybe I should have said nothing. Later Anna bid 3♥ and I had to play it. Against ruthless defence from John Wilson and Kenneth Crooks the defence took the first eight tricks fro 3♥-4 (only good thing is one other table played 3♥-5).

It's unlucky to go four down, but we have certainly overcompeted with 3♥.

Compare with this deal from our recent Scottish Cup defeat:

This time I've made a takeout double, but Anna has still passed, with a much better hand than the one I bid 2♥ on in the deal above.

Overall we lost the league match 13-3.

Scottish Cup Round 1

Last Saturday Anna and I made a return to the Scottish Cup. We last played in this event in 2015, and lost a nailbiting first round match by just two IMPs (see here). This year we teamed up with my former pupils Kevin and Michael, who have plenty of time on their hands before starting University in about October.

Our opponents were a strong team headed by Finlay Marshall and Patrick Home. It was to be a step up for all of us, not least in the number of boards, 32 in a row, starting at 730 pm. This represents a particular challenge for Anna and I, as one child goes to bed about 715 and the other about 830. At one point while dummy I went through to read Zoe as story and she said "you look very red-faced", but overall I think I handled the pressure well.

However, the match started poorly with a nervous 3H+2, before our opponents judged well to stop low and made 1NT (they were Norman Lazonby and Alastair White - who I have since learned are not as experienced as Finlay and Patrick, but are Scottish Senior Chess players and certainly played a good game against us). Our team-mates went off in 2NT, before things settled down.

Most of my declarer hands were very simple, and I played them swiftly. But this one was a challenge:

Anna's 2♠ bid showed a good Diamond raise. When it got back to me over 3♠ I thought I actually had rather a good hand, with good trumps, good Clubs, and nothing wasted in Spades, so ventured a natural 4♣. Looking back, maybe I should have passed, giving Anna the opportunity to bid 3NT. Over my 4♣ we had a rather uncertain auction but thankfully stopped in 5♦, which at least had some play.

I got a Spade lead to the Jack and Ace then a Spade return. It's tempting to let this run round and make dummy's Queen a winner, but actually that would be my second loser with at least one more to come. I worked out my only chance of making it was if the Club finesse worked, and the Heart finesse worked, and Hearts were 3-3 allowing me to discard the third Club from dummy. So overall not a great contract. I played for this line but got the timing wrong (drew trumps instead of taking the Club finesse when I had the chance), and ended in the wrong hand at the end. I was releived with the Club King was offside, as 5♦ was unmakeable, but I should have played it better.

On the other table East doubled instead of overcalling 1♠ and North-South got to 3NT. On the Spade lead this isn't guaranteed, but declarer guessed correctly to take the Heart finesse and made overtricks.

The team conceded a few game tight game contracts, which I put down to good declarer play by our opponents, and lost the first half 19-61.

In the second half this hand featured my second major blunder:

Patrick Home decided to open his hand at the one level, then insisted on Hearts up to 4♥. Anna led a Club, which declarer won in hand then played Spades. The defence started well, as I took the Ace of Spades (ducking gives the contract) then returned a Diamond (before declarer gets to discard it on the Spades). Then the crunch came as declarer led the ♥J from dummy. I paused, then fatally covered. This means the defence gets only one trump trick and the contract makes.

There are some layouts where covering gains a trick, but not many. And, crucially, we needed two trump tricks to beat the contract (which I knew), and ducking gives us the best chance of this. I was convinced that declarer had the ♥AK from the bidding, and didn't envisage this hand at all. For my money, if you're going to bid like that you might as well open 4♥, but perhaps I need to update my thinking. On the other table Michael opened 3♥ and played there, for a game swing away.

In the second half Kevin and Michael generated a few gains. Once they made 4♠ with four top losers (gaining one on the lead), then came this deal:

They've both bid to the max to get to a decent 4♠. Assuming one trump loser you have eight top tricks: 5 Spades, 1 Heart, 1 Diamond, 1 Club. You can ruff a Club for the 9th, and the Diamond finesse looks the obvious bet for the 10th. In fact, establishing the long Diamonds could generate plenty of tricks.

Michael got a ♣K lead. I might have ducked this, (hoping for a trump switch), but he took the Ace and returned a Club. East won and tried a trump now. West did well to withhold the King. Michael took a Diamond finesse and West now couldn't continue trumps without giving a trick. He tried a Club, and Michael was now able to set up the Diamonds (Ace and ruff high in hand) and still had an entry. In the end he lost just one Club, one Diamond, and one trump. Well played for 4♠=.

On our table North opened 1♠ (this pair like to open light - Finlay has explained that both this and Board #10 had two Aces so too many controls for them to open a Weak Two), and I overcalled 2♣. Anna and I navigated to 3♥ which I played rather casually for two off, but still a 10 IMP gain (Finlay says his pass and Patrick's 3♦ were both close decisions, else they might have got to 4♠ too)

On the final board we caught them in 4♥ and doubled for +500, a nice 14 IMP finish. This was the full board:

(Finlay took the blame for this one, though actually 4♥ isn't a terrible contract it just fails on this trump split)

However, overall still a 38-54 loss in the half, leading to 57-115 overall, a fairly sound beating.

Anna and I both had slumps in the second half, and as a team we lacked a bit of precision in play and defence, but still a satisfying match and a good evening's entertainment.

Sole Bay Bridge Club

Having written about bridge, and watched a lot recently, it was now time for me to have a go myself. A humbling exercise. Anna and I had the pleasure tonight of playing at the Sole Bay Bridge Club in Southwold. There were four tables, playing a good standard.

There were a couple of hands where we could have done better. Once I had a nice five trumps in defence and thought we were sure to beat their 3♦ contract. I was (quietly) rubbing my hands with glee. However, when declarer ruffed I fell into the trap of over-ruffing. I have read that "You shouldn't over-ruff unless you can see that it will gain you a trick" but I couldn't help myself. That led to 3♦= and a bad score for us (well played to the declarer Gwen Webb).

The other hand was when I was declarer in 2♥, dealing with a 5-1 trump break of my own. I knew what I needed to do - ruff in my own hand and scramble my way to eight tricks. But I guessed a Spade finesse wrong and went one down (well done the defence of Doug Kemp & Anthea Marriner).

Finally here is a joint-effort where Anna and I missed out:

♠ J x x x ♥ Q T 9 5 x ♦ x ♣ K x x ♠ x x ♥ J x ♦ A x x x ♣ x x x x x 6 5 14 15 ♠ K T 9 ♥ x x x ♦ K Q J x x ♣ A J ♠ A Q x x x ♥ A K x ♦ x x x ♣ Q x

W N E S Anna Danny - - 1♦ 1♠ 2♦ 3♠ - - -

East opened 1♦ and I had the South hand. I made a 1♠ overcall. West bid a competitive 2♦ and Anna a pre-emptive 3♠, which I passed. Although I have a maximum hand at matchpoints scoring I think pass is clear, especially as Anna could be very weak.

West led the Ace of Diamonds and when I saw the singleton Diamond in dummy I knew I was going to make a lot of tricks. West switched to the Jack of Hearts which I won in hand. Although I feared a Heart ruff I thought East was such a strong favourite to have the trump Ace it was worth a finesse first. I crossed to dummy by ruffing a diamond, then successfully finessed trumps. If I could draw trumps I would then be able to run the Hearts and discard my losing Clubs. However, the King did not fall under the Ace.

So, I tried a sneaky manoeuvre in Hearts. After winning the Ace-King-Queen I still had the winning Ten-Five in dummy. I called for the Five from dummy. East didn't fancy ruffing in with her winning Spade, so I threw one Club, then another one on the Ten of Hearts. I now had now Club losers, so eleven tricks, just losing a Spade and a Diamond.

Unfortunately, 2♠+3 was still not a good score, as a couple of pairs were in 4♠= (well done John Price & Di Pulman, Gwen & Roger Webb).

Fortunately, we got enough boards right to finish with a winning score of 63%.

European Youth Teams Championship - Match 16/17 vs Latvia/Israel

Could we overhaul Ireland and finish second last? Our first match today was against Latvia, who for a while were close to us at the bottom end of the table.

I spent the day at Efteling theme park, and while this match was being played I was on a rollercoaster. It started in the dark, went up a little bit, then came crashing down. That was similar to our scorecard, as we first raced into an 18-0 lead.

It's very rare for us to get a gain from directly outplaying out opponents, more often they come from a divergence in the auction. The board below produced some huge variation, with contracts ranging from the one to seven level, with most of them doubled.

South (Michael) was spared the decision over what to open the bidding when his North (Donald) opened 1H. East came in with 2S and Michael started with 3D. When partner bid 3NT, Michael passed. I would have bid 5C. Not often you get a 0-0-7-6 hand. Here partner has a double stop in the majors plus entries, so 3NT made.

On the other table North also opened 1H, but this time East passed. South took the low road, passing, and North had a rather tough time playing 1H. It would have been a fun dummy to table, though rather useless in 1H. Two off and 11 IMPs to Scotland.

When we came crashing down we hit the ground hard, including an attempt to make a grand slam missing the Ace of trumps. It didn't work out. 

Round 16 Victory Points: 0

Total VPS so far: 40.91 (18th place, 2.4 IMPs behind Ireland)

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For our final match we needed to produce a result against Israel. 

Although bidding is the thing players worry about, and spend most time discussing, it shouldn't be the priority. I've had many Juniors tell me "the play's fine, I'm just not sure about the bidding". They all need to improve their play.

In fact, given that this is our last match, some team awards. The best play goes to Donald, best bidding Michael, best performing pair Lydia and Jack, and most improved Tamsin and Jamie.

Here are two missed opportunities from this final match:

Well done the pair who got to 6C, played by South. If I tell you that every finesse works and trumps are 2-2 it seems easy, but I can see how you could run into problems. Suppose you get a low Heart lead from West (the 3). What's your plan?

The Heart lead is annoying, but you can't avoid the Heart finesse so have to take it. It wins. Since you are worried about a Heart ruff you next play Ace of trumps and another, accepting that this may mean you go down if trumps are 3-1 and Hearts 4-1 (as you can't ruff out the Hearts). Otherwise you are home.

I don't know what happened, but presumably the Scotland defender was talked into a losing line (the sneaky low Heart lead from K3 maybe), and took only 10 tricks.

Next a challenge for East-West

Well done getting to 6S. West was declarer and got a Heart lead. How do you play it?

The key thing is what to do with your Clubs. You could take a finesse (a 50/50 shot), or try and ruff them out (much better). If you draw two rounds of trumps and they turn out to be 2-2 you are home (unless Clubs are 5-1). If trumps split 3-1 you need to stop drawing trumps after only two rounds, and start ruffing Spades high. It's therefore good technique to win the first Heart in dummy (so you have the King of Hearts entry back to hand).

Here trumps are 2-2 so it shouldn't be a problem. The Scotland declarer went down, which I guess would be taking an unnecessary finesse (North had Qxxx in Clubs), or maybe playing three rounds of Clubs before drawing trumps and ruffing low in dummy and getting overruffed.

Either way, I'd like to give the declarer the same contract in a year or two and see if they make it then!

Unfortunately the 0.58 Victory Points we achieved here was not enough to overhaul Ireland. Well played to them! (And France, the overall winners of the U26)

Round 17 Victory Points: 0.58

Total VPS so far: 40.91 (18th place, 2.4 IMPs behind Ireland)

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European Youth Teams Championship - Match 13/14/15 vs Poland/Ireland/Turkey

In our first match we were soundly beaten by Poland, the scorecard a barrage of Polish scores against nothing our side. A couple of times Poland bid a good minor slam, more often we were missing game. 

A constant theme has been our players undervaluing distributional hands, and being strict point-counters rather than trick-counters. But we are getting better. In the last match before I left I was delighted to see Tamsin upgrade her hand with ♣AKxxxx and get straight to 3NT. We need more judgement like that.

Our East opened a weak NT. East transferred to a minor and played 3♦. Not much can go wrong in the play and declarer took 11 tricks.

On the other table of course Poland were in 5♦, making the same 11 tricks.

On another day West taking the low-road might have been a winning choice, but I think on balance the hand is worth at least an invite to game. The key thing is to count tricks, not points. Or, to put it another way, if East has just a couple of good cards then game is good, and when you need so little from partner to make game you should probably bid it. We've not discussed it but I think the way to do it would be for West to transfer with 2♠, then when East bids 3♣ you jump to 4♦. This must be both minors, as with just one you could make an immediate strong 3♣/3♦ bid over 1NT.

Well done to table-topping France who got to the top spot of 6♣.

Round 13 Victory Points: 0

Total VPS so far: 32.58 (17th place)

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Next up was the big one - our match against Ireland. The 20 Victory Points on offer was sure to provide a bumper haul for one team, or maybe both of us if it was 10-10.

Ireland raced into the lead when we played 4H on a 4-3 fit, then we got some back with this good effort from Jack and Lydia.

West (Jack) opened a weak 2S and East (Lydia) bid an immediate 4H. This was passed out (well done Jack not bidding 4S). On their card it says that a new suit from East is game-forcing, but when you know the final contract is going to be 4H, why bid anything else? (They don't play splinters, so 4H must be natural).

4H went very nicely for 11 tricks. The Irish East-West, and many other pairs, played 3S.

Most of the action was in the Open Room. Jack and Lydia bid not one but two grand slams. 

I didn't say they made two grand slams, It's easy to find several places where this auction could have gone better. East could begin with a game forcing strong 2D response, then it would be clear when she bids 6D it's to play. Bidding RKCB after the 2H bid means Hearts are trumps, so is a bad idea. Better would be fourth suit forcing, or a forcing jump to 4D. West could have passed 6D, which was surely natural since they didn't have any other meaning for it. Finally East could have bid 6NT instead of 7D (knowing that partner had the Ace of Clubs).

I agree with the rest of the bids though :)

The Irish had a more straight-forward auction where East leapt to 6D earlier on. This is exactly the sort of hand you should jump to slam with, as partner is never going to support you with all those Diamonds, although maybe it's worth doing Blackwood to see if you can play 7D.

Sweden joined us in this hand on 7D-1, showing it can happen to anyone.

Next, came a happier outcome:

East (Lydia) opened a game-forcing 2C. This seems reasonable to me, in that partner only needs the King of Diamonds to make game good. On the other hand, when you have such a distributional hand like this it's very unlikely that a 1C opening will be passed out, so that would probably be my choice.

I'm not sure what West (Jack) thought when partner opened 2C. He made a positive response of 2S, then when East bid 3C jumped to 7NT. If that was his plan he might as well have bid 7NT the first time, which would have been even more stylish.

There are exactly 13 top tricks (without requiring Spades to split or the Diamond finesse). That's my kind of grand slam. Well done you two!

The Irish played 2C+5. Just kidding. They played 6C, along with the majority of pairs.

In this high-scoring encounter Ireland prevailed 50-44, with the result in the balance even on the final board (a further 6S slam was available to Jack and Lydia). Well played to the Irish four of Isabel Walsh & Sheila Burke and Aileen Armstrong & Andrew Newbold.

This is our highest scoring game, but feels like a loss (which it was). We now slip behind our biggest rivals.

Round 14 Victory Points: 8.33

Total VPS so far: 40.91 (18th place, by 1.5 VPs)

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We now need to gain a few more VPs than Ireland in the last three matches to overtake them. It didn't happen here though, as we were trounced by Turkey by an astonishing 133-10 VPs.

Whenever our East-West pair made a game Turkey made a slam. When our North-South pair went one off in game Turkey made it. This was the most surprising:

North opened Our East overcalled 2C. The bid is obviously far too weak for an overcall, especially vulnerable. It's costly if you get doubled, but can also cost in another way, as I expect happened. Getting two level overcalls up to strength still needs more work!

The Turkish South got to 5D. A low Heart was led from East. I don't have the play records but assume West took two Hearts. After this declarer can place the King of Diamonds with East, to make up his vulnerable two-level overcall (East can't have KQJ of Clubs else he would have led one). So he played for the drop. The alternative possibility is that West for some reason didn't take his top Hearts, after which the natural line for declarer would be to play the Ace of Diamonds then try and set up the Spades, also leading to success.

Well done Donald and Jamie getting to 5D, which goes down on the normal line of finessing Diamonds.

So a 20-0 loss but Ireland didn't get any victory points either so we remain 1.5 VPs behind going into the final day.

Round 15 Victory Points: 0

Total VPS so far: 40.91 (18th place, by 1.5 VPs)

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European Youth Teams Championship - Match 11/12 vs Bulgaria/Germany

I'm now in Amsterdam with the children so no blogging today. However, I received this from Alisdair, a report on the start of Match 11 vs Bulgaria:

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Today is my first full day with all the Captain duties to myself. I was there for all of Saturday, but the competition rules meant that Danny had to submit the lineup for the Netherlands match on Friday night, even though it was played on Saturday morning. Once the Italy match was underway, I went right ahead and enthusiastically submitted my lineups for the next three matches - forgetting that Sunday has only two, and we're good up to Monday morning now. Three mornings in a row where Jamie and Tamsin are playing the morning match - twice with Jack and Lydia as team-mates. Oops! I was prepared to go to the Director with my begging bowl and ask if I could change the lineup, but the team unanimously assured me that what we had already was probably the right idea.

The team are still in good spirits despite the fact we are still seeking our first win. Donald needs to be constantly reminded that we didn't actually "win" against Hungary. We socialised on Saturday night playing anything-but-bridge (although lots of card games were involved). I couldn't get the hang of all of them, but I won all the "chips" at Texas Hold Em'. (Scotland players and coaches do NOT gamble while on International duty; the chips were returned to the board game from whence they came). I found out Danny had schooled the team at the same game a couple of nights previously. Coaches have to show their worth somehow! The players' tendency to raise All In without so much as a pair revealed a lot about their bidding habits!

Conversation at Breakfast was upbeat as we pored over the Bulgarian convention cards and I gave some pointers for competitive auctions. Alas, we were not off to a good start. Board 2 was one of those boards where our pairs did little wrong, but are just not experienced enough to achieve the optimum result:

After a strong 1NT Opener from East, Lydia and Jack found their 8-card (6-2) heart fit, and their better quality 5-3 spade fit never got a look in. They rightly believed that Slam was a possibility, but investigated in the wrong major. They quickly found a missing Key Card as well as a missing Queen of trumps, and stopped in Game to notch up +650. At the other table, a Precision 1 Club opening allowed the Bulgarian pair to discover the spade suit, and they went to Slam in the correct Major. An 11-IMP setback was not the start we wanted.

Still, this team has learned nothing if not resilience this week, and they came storming back two boards later.

Unfortunately, we don't get Play records, so we rely on the players' recollections to report how it happened (and we can't ask until after the match). Quite often, all memory of the cardplay is flushed from their brains the moment they leave the playing area. 

What we know is that our East-West Lydia and Jack got to a good - but tight - four hearts contract. It should make, but there is plenty opportunity to go wrong. Fortunately, our Declarer didn't and +620 was a good start. It got better: Tamsin came in with her spade suit at the 2-level over the Bulgarian's Stayman. Her counterpart had bid 3 when her LHO already knew of the heart fit, making 4H an easy bid. Here, I can only assume Tamsin's opponents had a misunderstanding about what the double of 2 Spades was, and Tamsin happily made an overtrick and collected +870 for a 16-IMP swing.

For the third match running, we had taken a lead early on, but far too early for me to have legitimate hope that we would still be ahead at the end of the match. Still, Jack and Lydia did their best to give me hope on the very next board:

The two main "bridge" topics of discussion at breakfast came together here, as Lydia and Jack had to deal with a Precision 1 Club Opener and compete. They had agreed what their double of the 1 Diamond relay was, and I thought they might use it here, but no: A direct 2 Diamonds bid was the choice. This was raised, the Bulgarians competed in hearts, and the eventual contract was 4 Diamonds Doubled. -100 was an excellent result considering a vulnerable Game was available the other way. Unfortunately, Tamsin (South) was not as forceful with her hearts as she should have been, and allowed her partner to play in 3NT rather than 4H. At first glance, it looks like he has plenty of tricks. But not if East ducks the Ace of hearts! This blocks Jamie out of dummy, and is why it was crucial to play in 4 Hearts which would have made. -200 scored for -7 IMPs, and thoughts once again turned from "Can we actually win this one?" to "Can we at least score some VPs?" On the face of it, not an encouraging thing, but this is a very inexperienced team that are gaining a lot of valuable experience. To have a glimmer of hope for three consecutive matches is not something that would have been possible at the start of the competition. As Tamsin said to me yesterday: "I've learned more in the last two days than I have done in the last two years". Comments like that, from a teacher's point of view, justify the team's participation in full.

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The final score was 25-51 IMPs.

Round 11 Victory Points: 4.16

Total VPS so far: 26.77 (17th place)

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Match 12 against Germany was a cracker. The four of Donald-Michael and Jack-Lydia lost 37 IMPs on the first four boards, but followed that up with several good ones to lose 40-57 IMPs.

This board caught my eye:

In the Closed Room Jack made our normal weak 2D opening. The German North doubled. Lydia could have come in with 3D here (showing a few Diamonds), but passed. The German south bid 2S, and played there.

With the trumps and Clubs both behaving declarer has nine top tricks - in fact ten with the Heart Ace onside. Jack led the Seven of Clubs, solving that suit for declarer, and he cashed out for nine tricks.

On the other table the German West had a natural 2D available, but went for 3D. North (Donald) also doubled this, and South (Michael) bid and played 3S. 

This time the lead was a small Diamond, giving declarer no clues. Since only eight tricks were made I presume we got Clubs wrong. Hard to say without the play record. It certainly looks easy seeing all four hands, but then it usually does. Sadly for us the German declarer in 2S made nine tricks, and the Scottish declarer in 3S made only eight. 

But that was only 5 IMPs away, we got them back and more doubling the Germans in 7C, to finish with our closest result yet.

Round 12 Victory Points: 5.81

Total VPS so far: 32.58 (17th place)

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European Youth Teams Championship - Match 10 vs Italy

I'm no longer at the tournament, having said my goodbyes and gone back to Schiphol. I've got here a comfortable 3 hours before my family arrive so have plenty of time to see what happened with the Italy match, then make them a big sign.

I can see that we lost 25-65, collecting a further 2.19 VPs. Not a bad result, against the number one team here. 

Board 1 was a fairly typical 7 IMP loss, where we guessed to go low and everyone else bid 3NT. Four times in this match the opponents gained a swing on 3NT boards, and only once did their 3NT fail and we gained a few back. Bidding, declaring, and defending 3NT well should be our goal!

However, Scotland did fight back. Bravo Donald and Michael bidding this one to 4♠ for a six IMP gain (only 2♠+3) on the other table:

After South (Michael) opened 1♠, West doubled and North (Donald) made a 2♠ raise. Strictly we play four card majors but I like his raise. East bid 4♥ and Michael bid 4♠. Even if you finesse trumps (which I think you should after the takeout double) that's 10 tricks.

On the other table our West (Jack) chose not to make that takeout double, having only three Hearts, and Italy settled in only 2♠. Well played guys.

After a couple more good results we went into reverse, removing a good 3NT into 5♦, doubled and off three.

Perhaps some slam deals could save us?

Jack and Lydia bid this one to 6♥, played by East. They got a Heart lead. With the Diamond Queen dropping declarer can throw a losing Spade from the West hand, and just needs to guess Clubs right. Presumably we guessed wrong, as it sadly went one off, for a big swing out (other table 4♥+2, so could have been a big swing in).

One final 3NT woe: how did the Italian declarer (North) steal 3NT here on a Diamond lead?
  

I'm guessing he won the Ace first round (no point ducking, just tells the defence they've found your weak suit), then stole an immediate Spade trick to get up to nine.

I've been impressed with the fortitude of the team in putting aside bad results and continuing to bid up / pre-empt / interfere with strong Club openings. Jack and Lydia duly bounced back here.

All 18 East-West pairs bid to 6♠ here (or doubled 6♦), and that included Scotland. We did it in four bids (East opens 1♠, West bids Blackwood...), the Italians took 14 bids.

It does take some care to play it well. The only thing that can go wrong is in the Heart suit, so you focus on that. Do you lead up to KQ twice, or finesse the Jack? Can you still make it if there is AJx offside? You'd like to eliminate the other suits first (so you might get a ruff and discard) but that won't work when trumps are 4-0.

I think the best you can do after drawing trumps is lead up to your KQ. Assuming no honours appear you lead the Ten on the second round, having a decision to make what to do next. Here it's no problem as the Ace appears on the second round. 

Well done Lydia making the contract, and gaining another slam bonus. 

That's our last match today, with a lighter weekend schedule. Tomorrow it's Bulgaria then Germany.

Round 10 Victory Points: 2.19

Total VPS so far: 22.61 (17th place, still just above Ireland and a long way behind everyone else)

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European Youth Teams Championship - Match 9 vs Netherlands

At the not-quite-halfway stage we are sitting just above Ireland. Here is the full table:

The top eight teams (in bold) qualify for the upcoming world-championship in Italy, maybe top nine if Italy qualify as looks likely. It will be interesting to see if England can claw themselves back into the mix. However, it's clear at this stage the real battle shaping up is between the bottom two. We meet head-to-head on Monday.

Both teams have been inching along. Today Ireland took five VPs from Israel, a great result.

As we (they) are half way through the tournament the teams have started to mix a bit more socially.  Game of badminton anyone? 

This morning we face Netherlands and then Italy. 

Being the only pair who plays a weak NT I was hoping this might give us an edge. I was speaking to the Dutch pair who weren't playing and they weren't too concerned about it. "12-14, many pairs play 9-12!" 

On the very first board their methods were tested, and the Dutch East-West were forced into a shaky game:

Our South (Michael) opened the weak NT and West doubled for penalties. We play that all two level bids are natural escapes so North (Donald) tried 2♠. East made a takeout double and West had a punt at 4♥. Luckily for him (we were robbed) 4♥ has good play and made exactly.

On the other table they opened the Dutch North-South played 2♠. Our East (Tamsin) found the best lead of the Jack of Diamonds, which ought to lead to six losers for declarer, but somehow he made it. Two good results gave the Dutch an 11-0 lead.

I was watching this with the incoming NPC Alisdair MacLeod (who takes over from me today) and from watching another match we assumed this board would be flat, before the result popped up and we saw the game swing for Netherlands. Not surprisingly, they were the only pair to bid 4♥ here.

The Dutch followed that up by making a delicate 3NT that we failed at - these sorts of hands are so important but very difficult to discuss afterwards as it takes a good memory and a lot of effort to work through the defence and declarer play, so I guess we'll never know why we lost another 10 here.

However, after Italy overbid and Jamie made a 3NT that went down on the other table (good lead Donald), we were briefly ahead.

I was watching the featured match of Italy-Israel, as we are playing Italy later and their team features the great Giovanni Donati, a young bridge professional who has partnered all the Italian greats. The Italians weren't messing around and were close to finishing when we were just over half way. This was some good defence:

The Italian East opened 1♣. Your bid as South?

The Israeli South bid 3NT, my choice too. This has eight tricks, with the chance of a ninth in Spades.

At the table the Ten of Clubs was led. This means East could safely play a low Club and preserve his King. Declarer crossed to dummy to lead a Spade up. This looked promising, as East grabbed his Ace. Declarer now has nine tricks (1 Spade, 7 Diamonds, 1 Club). The problem is the defence have five tricks (1 Spade, 2 Hearts, 2 Clubs). It's not always easy to cash all these tricks but the Italians did it no problem, leading to 3NT-1.

What about when our teams played the hand?

Well done Michael for also getting to 3NT as South. This got the Four of Clubs lead from West (not the Ten). There's no record of the play but I imagine this low Club lead caused East to waste his King of Clubs, and now the contract is cold. Still needs some good play.

Unfortunately on the other table we also led a low Club, and conceded 3NT. Not quite defending at the level of Donati yet.

Still, I'll take a flat board.

Overall we lost by 59-26.

Round 9 Victory Points: 3.1

Total VPS so far: 20.42 (17th place)

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